Aceras hugged Dalia and fell behind the bushes. He seemed to have judged that it was better than climbing there.
Fortunately, it didn’t hurt at all. As you’ve know, Aceras is a transcendent, so he’ll be fine.
The disturbance at the ballroom has already spread to here. The Duke’s sister is missing from the palace, so everyone will mobilize all their resources to find her.
People were already running to the garden below. This is why Aceras will be misunderstood if they go out together. It’s even worse since he just fought with Adrisha.
Fortunately, there is a rather large space behind the bushes, so it would take a while unless they look closely.
If caught, it would be faster for Dalia to lose her position and get revenge on the angry male lead than for Adrisha to be imprisoned. It was fortunate that Dalia did not suggest it.
As soon as Aceras came down, he sighed deeply.
“I made a stupid mistake, too. To think because of the hair tie.”
The words sounded like Dalia was blaming herself.
As a result of observing him for a short time, Aceras could have thought that way because he had no conscience.
Dalia didn’t want to be the target of revenge for the future male lead, so she pondered on how to overcome this.
“I think it’s better if we tell the truth and ask for forgiv…….”
“I’m sure you will be alright, but no one’s gonna believe me. I will be decapitated by the angry Lady Adrisha and the Duke.”
“Ha ha, ha.”
She couldn’t deny it at all. Dalia turned the subject around.
“Why are you doing something that shouldn’t be caught? What happened with Adrisha?”
“……”
This time, Aceras became quiet.
After a long time, he sighed and turned his head to her magpie nest-like hair.
“……I’ll tell you everything that happened. Miss Dalia, I have a plan.”
She knew she shouldn’t believe in Aceras’s ‘honesty’ at face value, but Dalia nodded pretending not to know.
“What plan?”
“There’s a small ember…. It’s small, but because it’s surrounded by fields, it’s likely to spread extremely quickly.” (*t/n: for those who didn’t understand what he means here, it’s an analogy. So the ember/fire here = rumor. I’m pretty sure the fields here = the stupid chatterbox crown prince. Since he can’t keep his mouth shut, so the rumors can spread quickly.)
“……You can’t possibly like watching fire, aren’t you?” (*t/n: basically it means that he likes to watch the drama/chaos the rumor caused..like this)
Aceras nodded shyly.
‘So you’re trying to spread that I was responsible for the Duchess Blueport incident?’
Dalia widened her eyes in bewilderment.
“But there was someone who seemed to put out the hard-earned embers right away. So I……”
Aceras spoke with a hazy look. On the other hand, Dalia cooled down.
“Get out.”
Dalia pushed him with her foot.
Aceras was confused and grabbed Dalia.
“What are you doing, Miss Dalia!”
“I don’t like Aceras. Now pay for your sins.”
“Please, don’t do that.”
Aceras begged with his good and beautiful face. He was so proud of himself when he said, “I beg of you” before, now where is he? (*t/n: the difference in his tone and choice of word. Because previously, the ‘i beg of you’ or also can be translated as ‘please’-it was in a more formal tone (just a slight nod will do while saying this), but now he’s literally begging)
“So why are you talking behind someone else’s back?”
“……I’m sorry, Miss Dalia.”
Dalia couldn’t bear to push him away completely and vaguely pulled back her foot.
“Why do you live with such bad thoughts? What’s wrong with getting along with others?”
Due to the situation, Dalia has now reached the point of lecturing the original male lead. Aceras shrugged his shoulders.
“There’s nothing we can do with those of poor origin, Miss.”
‘Ah, this line appears here.’
Now is it
「I was born with poor origins too. People can change.」
Dalia’s turn to say this?
Of course, Dalia didn’t intend to receive Aceras’s love by using Adrisha’s lines here.
The love from Aceras will only cause a messy aftereffect. Dalia’s life was as precious as Adrisha.
So Dalia nodded.
“Th, that’s right. There’s nothing we can do about that. “
“……I’ve never heard anyone say like that before.”
Aceras said as if he were dumbfounded.
She chose to keep her mouth shut because Dalia thought that it was nonsense.
Aceras looked away from Dalia and looked around. Dalia glanced at him secretly.
Honestly, the more she stays with him after seeing him and Adrisha fighting, the more she thinks that he has already become the seed of a great villain.
From digging for information behind Dalia’s back… to the fact that he knows she was at the ballroom during the Duchess Blueport incident.
‘Maybe I should just hand him over to brother now?’
She felt weak looking at Aceras’ handsome side face, but considering the future……
However, Dalia shook her head recalling one of the original events.
In fact, in one of the Aceras routes, he was once imprisoned in the underground prison of the imperial palace after his scheme was discovered.
At that time, he eventually succeeds in breaking out of prison, releasing all prisoners there to avoid being caught.
That’s why Adrisha played a big part in the palace trying to capture the prisoners, and eventually ran into Aceras and exchanged such harsh words……
The route eventually became the love-hatred bad end route.
If she tries to lock him up again for no reason this time and he breaks out of prison and burns his anger toward Dalia, she will be in trouble. She wanted to live a long and peaceful life.
“If Aceras is caught……”
“What?”
It seems that her thought came out of her mouth on it’s own.
Aceras next to her looked at Dalia with an absurd expression. Dalia quickly found a way to fix it.
Fortunately, she came up with an idea quickly this time. Dalia put her hand on his shoulder and nodded her head.
“I will make sure that you can get out of here.”
“…..I’d rather not be caught.”
Before they knew it, time went by while they were talking. People still haven’t found them.
“No one’s ever found us. What if the misunderstanding gets worse?”
“I agree with that.”
“The longer we spend time here, the worse the situation will be.”
Dalia was just about to say, ‘Let’s get out.’ But then, a shadow fell over Aceras and Dalia.
“Yes, Dalia. The situation is already strange.”
“Huh?”
Dalia replied in confusion.
Dalia just heard the voice above her head. It was a blunt and arrogant voice that she knew very well.
Dalia looked up with trembling eyes.
Hikan Pesteros, with a disorganized look, whose hair was untied and his collar crumpled, was looking at the two with a cold gaze.
Why, at this timing.
However, she felt guilty not because Hikan was angry or waiting for her to confess her sins, but because he was looking at her with a tired look on his face.
“How do you explain this situation?”
A somewhat hoarse voice.
When Aceras sighed and tried to open his mouth, Hikan growled.
“You keep your mouth shut.”
“……I’m sorry.”
“You tell me, Dalia.”
“……that’s…….”
Dalia glanced at Aceras. And she saw her exhausted brother.
How can she explain this in the best way? After much consideration, Dalia opened her mouth.
“……well, the bracelet…..that brother gave me…..fell down……”
“……”
“I almost fell off while trying to pick it up, but he caught me. But it was too late……and we fell together.”
“……Why didn’t you just call us?”
“I was worried that others might misunderstand. I’m sorry.”
Hikan was silent. His gaze stayed on Dalia.
After a long time, he looked back at Aceras.
“Thank you for helping my sister. You can go now. I’ll make it up to you later.”
“……Yes, then I’ll excuse myself.”
Aceras hesitated as if he had something to say when he saw Dalia, then he left.
Hikan sat with his knees bent in front of Dalia. Dalia apologized again.
“I’m sorry.”
“……Don’t apologize. In the future, don’t try too hard to pick up something like that. You’re hurt.”
His gaze was on Dalia’s knee. She didn’t even know that she was injured, but it turned out that she got hurt from the bushes.
“The ball is over. Let’s go home.”
Hikan bent over and hugged her. He didn’t put her on his shoulder like before, and carefully held her in his arms as if she was something precious.
It was a really strange night. She can’t even dance with Adrisha, and one of the male characters fell in the bushes.
‘As expected, Aceras is someone that I need to watch out for.’
Still, it was nice to be with Hikan at the end.
She hugged his neck tightly.
